Anti-corruption groups and activists asked the country’s Ombudsman to investigate government officials close to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and their involvement in reported kickback schemes on anomalous flood control projects.
The group Kilusang Bayan Kontra Kurakot (KBKK, People’s Movement Against Corruption) led the filing of a complaint on Monday against former high-ranking government officials who allegedly received kickbacks in behalf of Marcos.
The complaint asks the Ombudsman to investigate possible violations of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act (RA 3019), the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials (RA 6713), and other reported corruption and misconduct in public office by Adrian Carlos Bersamin and Trygve Olaivar.
Bersamin, grandnephew of former Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, was the Undersecretary and head of the Presidential Legislative Liason Office while Olaivar was an Undersecretary at the Department of Education. Both officials resigned in late 2025 following allegations linking them to a ₱100-billion budget insertion scandal involving kickbacks.
The filing is based on revelations and affidavits regarding budget insertions and kickback deliveries connected to the national budget process, including allegations that Bersamin and Olaivar facilitated billions of pesos of kickbacks on behalf of the President.
Former Public Works and Highways Undersecretary Roberto Bernardo accused Olaivar and Bersamin of receiving kickbacks taken from ₱100-billion 2025 budget insertions upon Marcos’ orders.
Alongside Bernardo’s revelations, former Representative and Marcos political ally Elizaldo Co revealed that Marcos himself ordered the insertion in the 2025 budget, from which as high as 25% was taken as kickback.
In videos filmed and published while already a fugitive in Europe, Co claimed he was ordered to facilitate the additional funds purportedly for flood control projects while the ₱25B kickback was delivered to Malacañang Palace officials.
Eight billion pesos was allegedly set aside and delivered as kickback for Marcos given to Bersamin and Olaivar in multiple installments, a sworn testimony included in KBKK’s complaint said.
The said allegations were included in several of the impeachment complaints against Marcos which the House of Representatives dismissed last February. The quick dismissal was condemned by impeachment endorsers such as the Makabayan Coalition as “a deliberate effort to shield” Marcos from accountability.
The filing of the complaint comes at a critical moment as the Marcos-created Independent Commission for Infrastructure (ICI) is scheduled to close tomorrow, March 31.
‘ICI is a failure’
Progressive group Bagong Alyasang Makabayan (Bayan) said ICI is a failure for “having failed to hold any high-ranking official accountable for the widespread and systematic corruption involving infrastructure projects.”
“While citizens are stepping forward to demand accountability, the government’s own investigative body is shutting down without producing meaningful results or prosecuting the powerful personalities implicated in the scandal,” Bayan chairperson Teddy Casiño said.
He added that the ICI’s closure without accountability shows that corruption involving billions of pesos can simply fade away without consequences in the Philippines once public attention subsides.
“This is precisely why the filing of the complaint today is important. The Ombudsman must conduct a full and impartial investigation to determine the criminal, civil, and administrative liabilities of those involved,” Casiño said. # (Raymund B. Villanueva)
